Nope, that's not an advertisement for a job position, sorry but I can manage all by myself ;)
I recently got an inbox message to my facebook account asking me to "leave it out with all the advertising", I can't see why someone would be so bothered by it all, specially when you can click the 'x' next to the post just the once and 'hide' either iWeb application or my blogposts.
If anything I got a rise from it, this girl didn't know me (obviously), I don't even know how she came across me but its a big old world and must have spotted me and added me somehow, which added fuel to my fire and (if anything) proved I was doing something right ;)
See, my way of thinking is that if I have people I don't really know or met adding me to facebook thats great, I'm not going to refuse a friendship cos i dont know them, strangers are just people we haven't gotten to know. I've met lots of good friends all over the world, at least 6 of these friends have travelled as far as london, Milton Keynes, stafford and carlisle to visit the shop and got themselves a tattoo to commemorate the occasion.... Don't get it twisted in thinking that's what they come for, I've been doing this thing for too long (if that's possible) to not know what's in someones heart and mind.
I'm no stranger to talking, walking, eating or even living around 'strangers' I've spent the biggest part of my life living around people I don't know and would probably never meet again. I would never befriend someone to abuse or suppress them in any way, if they're feeling down id applaud them for finding humour in the dark days and encourage them to dig deeper, if they're on top of the world I'd want to be stood right beneath them and try to get where they are.
Some people can't adapt as easily and attack people who're on top of things, and put those feeling under the weather down even further.
Personally I wouldn't put myself in either category, I'm doing fine but decided that sitting on facebook was taking too much of my time and decided to learn how to build and host my own websites from home to save a small fortune. Why pay for what I already have???
iWeb has an option to publish my site and sends a link to facebook if i leave it ticked....and why wouldn't I? Its easier for those who dont want to see them or find them offensive(?) to just click on the 'x' to hide iWeb or the post from my blogsites, its an easy enough option, I do it all the time when new Facebook apps are created, i wake up to a screen full of them as a small percentage of facebook users begin to play away, I don't complain to the person they're playing too much, I'll hide the app and it never bothers me again ;)
What do i care if i see my shop name over and over again, I don't pay an agency or advising agency to so what i can do myself...in a more personal way too! At least my site have my words and thoughts....not snippets and clipped bits from whatever vie given to a web designer every month or two to update my site with.
I have to admit that i was publishing my site 3 or 4 times a day/night but it only takes once to hide it, I needed to get my site seen and checked over by friends before finishing it off or i wouldn't know if it was working ok. Testing it from my own computer doesn't have the same effect as it runs really smoothly and quickly because the files are right here on my own computer.
What i came 'here' to say was thats exactly what was bugging me about facebook to begin with, people assuming I'm going to listen because I'm in their 'friends' list, I will......and I'll think about what they say the same as I do with everyone, if its not to my liking then I'll disregard what they say, if it has constructive criticism I'll take it even more serious because it means not only is 'my problem' being pointed out to me but its got a solution in there too...people who just criticise with a lack of reasoning usually don't have the solution and are puzzling over small problems themselves, getting at others about their so called hangups are a way of distraction from their own problems.
I take criticism well, i don't like it but listen and act on it, if its tearing me down I'll stand as i am and prove the critic wrong, if its constructive my first thoughts are they're words of experience and I begin to pick the bones from whats in front of me.
As things are I live in a small valley in lancashire with one road in and one road out of the small town I live in, the valley itself has 5 tattoo shops locally....maybes more including the 2 towns which are either end of the valley...(Accrington and Rochdale). Why wouldn't i advertise??
If an advertising agent knew how to answer every question regarding tattooing or how I work id gladly leave it all up to them, as it is they leave so much unspoken and unanswered and the unspoken word can lead to misinterpretations which I can't leave to chance, the unanswered leave people who dont know me personally thinking I'm ignorant, where as the people I deal with every day and my friends who see me at work know just how much time and effort i've put in.
Why wouldn't i take pride in every little aspect of how I build my business/hobby? I know i came with nothing and will probably leave with nothing but if anything I teach my kids not to be defeatist and not to be lazy in getting what they want out of life, how much of an example would i be to listen to someone who doesn't know a thing about me, and then stop what I'm doing because they don't agree with the results (on a screen), I am polite though, i will apologise for not being able to take their advice but it wasn't in my best interests.
I really hope this doesn't em like an aggravating post because I'm just living MY life, I don't expect others to live like me or be like me, were all different and we need to be that way to co-exist.
Hope you all have that bit of individuality, or are at least looking for a way to be individual cos we get one life and one body to live in and to emulate another's is a waste of your own.
So as you can probably guess the post title is all 'bout me, no offence to any other big mouths, or valley dwellers ;) I chose this valley to live in 20 yrs ago, i wasn't born here but liked the company when I landed so chose to hang around. Ive had numerous complaints about my big mouth so being told by a stranger isn't anything new to me.... It just makes me proud that im being heard by all sides, friends and strangers alike...cos thats what advertising is about and its not always appreciated by others ;)
20 Deardengate, Haslingden,Lancs, BB45QJ
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Hello my beautiful, living, breathing sketchpads ;)
Hope you don't mind me calling you a "sketchpad" but if you got skin...and your living and breathing.....you're beautiful!!
I shoulda started with 'goodnite' seeing as it's 1am and I've just finished my quota for the day, not much tattoo work been going on but I always have quiet time around Christmas so manage to get a it more sketching and doodlin done then so the spare time serves me well later on when someone asks for something similar to what I sketched up in winter :)
I've spent a few confusing hours setting the shop security system up, basically a digital camera plugged into the shop 'puter and set to record with a motion detector setting, for an hr I stood in front of the camera wondering HOW to stop getting the emails forwarded to my fone, before realising I was stood in front f the camera setting it off, another solution would hav been to turn around and press "stop recording" on the computer ;)
I've had to go to extreme lengths with it since the police have taken on an "on the fly" decision making policy on whether "a burglar shitting in your shop/home" was criminal enough to follow thru (pardon the pun).
When I was told this by the shopkeeper himself I felt gutted for him and defenceless fr myself so I've set my own up.
I can now view my camera on my iPad at home, this is about 5pm when I'd just got home and decided to check it out on ipad.
That's my son in the doorway coming back from doing my paper recycling while I was at home checking how well it worked, goooood boy!!! :)
And the pic below is just after joes locked the shop up and ready to pull the shutter down.
The law states to have video surveillance I need to advertise it openly or it's not admissible in court!!!...so thieves can find a workaround???? Nahhh I've got it set up so I'm notified by text and email, and if some clever thief decides to steal the computer to hack my email account to delete them, he won't get to my FTPs account where the files are sent every 30 seconds so theyll have to be quicker than your average alarm to disconnect me ;)
I don't want to press charges if anyone steals from me, I want to press paving slabs on pillows!
Luckily it's a handheld digicam rather than a webcam so it's hi resolution and can see a range of shops within range of the motion detector so hopefully a webcast will make a few others feel secure without the worry of their shops being open to burglars ;)
I shoulda started with 'goodnite' seeing as it's 1am and I've just finished my quota for the day, not much tattoo work been going on but I always have quiet time around Christmas so manage to get a it more sketching and doodlin done then so the spare time serves me well later on when someone asks for something similar to what I sketched up in winter :)
I've spent a few confusing hours setting the shop security system up, basically a digital camera plugged into the shop 'puter and set to record with a motion detector setting, for an hr I stood in front of the camera wondering HOW to stop getting the emails forwarded to my fone, before realising I was stood in front f the camera setting it off, another solution would hav been to turn around and press "stop recording" on the computer ;)
I've had to go to extreme lengths with it since the police have taken on an "on the fly" decision making policy on whether "a burglar shitting in your shop/home" was criminal enough to follow thru (pardon the pun).
When I was told this by the shopkeeper himself I felt gutted for him and defenceless fr myself so I've set my own up.
I can now view my camera on my iPad at home, this is about 5pm when I'd just got home and decided to check it out on ipad.
That's my son in the doorway coming back from doing my paper recycling while I was at home checking how well it worked, goooood boy!!! :)
And the pic below is just after joes locked the shop up and ready to pull the shutter down.
The law states to have video surveillance I need to advertise it openly or it's not admissible in court!!!...so thieves can find a workaround???? Nahhh I've got it set up so I'm notified by text and email, and if some clever thief decides to steal the computer to hack my email account to delete them, he won't get to my FTPs account where the files are sent every 30 seconds so theyll have to be quicker than your average alarm to disconnect me ;)
I don't want to press charges if anyone steals from me, I want to press paving slabs on pillows!
Luckily it's a handheld digicam rather than a webcam so it's hi resolution and can see a range of shops within range of the motion detector so hopefully a webcast will make a few others feel secure without the worry of their shops being open to burglars ;)
Bill Clinton!!? how the f*ck did he get away!!
Court is in session!!
Ok, in a sentence!!
Bill Clinton smoked but didnt inhale, what about the glands in out mouths and nasal cavity which can take in as much cannabis to the blood as the lungs, then when he didnt inhale he passed it ON and didnt say who passed it to HIM!!!
THATS SUPPLYING!! DEALING!!! PERVERTING THE COURSE OF JUSTICE!!.......WORSE THAN THE ORIGINAL ACCUSATION OF BEING A POTHEAD!! :P
this court is out!
Ok, in a sentence!!
Bill Clinton smoked but didnt inhale, what about the glands in out mouths and nasal cavity which can take in as much cannabis to the blood as the lungs, then when he didnt inhale he passed it ON and didnt say who passed it to HIM!!!
THATS SUPPLYING!! DEALING!!! PERVERTING THE COURSE OF JUSTICE!!.......WORSE THAN THE ORIGINAL ACCUSATION OF BEING A POTHEAD!! :P
this court is out!
Monday, 24 January 2011
Whats with all the bloggin ?
If if i was a twee.....
lol, seriously, if i was a tree id be stuck in my environment and be at the mercy of the owners of the environment to keep conditions as i like them rather than Limit my growth.
Which is what facebook is, its the environment i populate run by 'owners' who want to restrict my actions, this isnt what i signed up for so im now using it permanent link to my other places i roam around in ;)
Last week i made another account in my shop name with a different email address, i used the 'suggest friends' box to suggest 50 of my own friends who i DO know so they could suggest their friends the same, within minutes of adding the suggested friends facebook had given me an 'official warning and restricted me for 4 days from adding any new friend becaus they belieed i was 'spamming' users......with ONE single request, per person? Thats not spam!!!
Other instances in the past have led me to believe they have moderators which have an opinion of their own and freely censor our comments and posts. I have had videos deleted of myself at work which i posted at the request of the customer and put a lot of effort into editing, sadly it had a song in the background and was accused by facebook of Imitating the band so to speak, with a tattoo machine i hardly think so!
I also spent a week with comments being regularly deleted, not only my own but other friends who were commenting on my wall, my photos or my status.....this was after i began to refer to facebook as 'faecesbook', whenever i used the term comments would be played around with, sort of like a warning to behave myself ;D
My main reason of making another account under the shop name was because facebook friends would rather disregard my previous refusals to give quotes online, or take bookings or talk about their tattoo out of shop hours and engage me in conversations at all hours, the internet or telephones are not a good way of translating tattoos......we need to see/show what we have in mind, wae can neer do that over the telephone and internet conversations can be so long winded the time they take sometimes outweigh the price of the tattoo in question.
But how can we say all this day after day with one type of character or another without sounding impolite, stuck up ourslves, uninterested or simply amateurish in the minds of those that dont know what does go into the preparation?
Personally i need the customer in front of me with the time to give me a good description of what, where, size, colour/ or shaded, and a few other details which only apply to one tattoo style or another....none are the same!
If a customer comes in and we both have the time (or a booked consultation is arranged) i can sit with them and sketch an idea out and they can say yayy or nayy and we can start from scratch without too much time wasted. If a customer gives me a description over the phone or internet with a hope to pop in a week later to view it, my idea and theirs maybe totally different and will put them back another week or two while i take it back to the drawing board.....but we would still be no better off unless the customer puts the time in to visit the shop so i can go thru the process and speed things up a little.
Facebook has been undoubtedly great and ive met some great friends but at the moment its taking up way too much of my time, as things were i was in the shop answering queries about tattoos (in paying customers time), when the people in question could have easily popped into the shop to look for themselves....or even take a click on my fabebook albums.
The alternative (in their eyes) was to catch me when i got home, which is time i need to be with my family, where in reality i get back to work designing the upcoming weeks work, or making transfers up from the same designs ive drawn or redrawn in some cases.
All i can say in my defense is i work 6 days a week, one of them being sunday, i have 4 kids and a wife who are here. I cant take time away from hem for a customer who cant 'be here', simply because if you cant get into the shop to plan or own tattoo then you cant have time to GET a tattoo!
i hope this doesnt come across in the wrong way, facebooks had it uses and ive made some great friends (and theyve seen my frustrations) but if im going to get the time i need to push the shop forward this year i need to leave faecesbook alone ;)
Youll see me on there but usually posting a link aposted from another blog, i have them all interlinked so when i post on one you all hear about it :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
lol, seriously, if i was a tree id be stuck in my environment and be at the mercy of the owners of the environment to keep conditions as i like them rather than Limit my growth.
Which is what facebook is, its the environment i populate run by 'owners' who want to restrict my actions, this isnt what i signed up for so im now using it permanent link to my other places i roam around in ;)
Last week i made another account in my shop name with a different email address, i used the 'suggest friends' box to suggest 50 of my own friends who i DO know so they could suggest their friends the same, within minutes of adding the suggested friends facebook had given me an 'official warning and restricted me for 4 days from adding any new friend becaus they belieed i was 'spamming' users......with ONE single request, per person? Thats not spam!!!
Other instances in the past have led me to believe they have moderators which have an opinion of their own and freely censor our comments and posts. I have had videos deleted of myself at work which i posted at the request of the customer and put a lot of effort into editing, sadly it had a song in the background and was accused by facebook of Imitating the band so to speak, with a tattoo machine i hardly think so!
I also spent a week with comments being regularly deleted, not only my own but other friends who were commenting on my wall, my photos or my status.....this was after i began to refer to facebook as 'faecesbook', whenever i used the term comments would be played around with, sort of like a warning to behave myself ;D
My main reason of making another account under the shop name was because facebook friends would rather disregard my previous refusals to give quotes online, or take bookings or talk about their tattoo out of shop hours and engage me in conversations at all hours, the internet or telephones are not a good way of translating tattoos......we need to see/show what we have in mind, wae can neer do that over the telephone and internet conversations can be so long winded the time they take sometimes outweigh the price of the tattoo in question.
But how can we say all this day after day with one type of character or another without sounding impolite, stuck up ourslves, uninterested or simply amateurish in the minds of those that dont know what does go into the preparation?
Personally i need the customer in front of me with the time to give me a good description of what, where, size, colour/ or shaded, and a few other details which only apply to one tattoo style or another....none are the same!
If a customer comes in and we both have the time (or a booked consultation is arranged) i can sit with them and sketch an idea out and they can say yayy or nayy and we can start from scratch without too much time wasted. If a customer gives me a description over the phone or internet with a hope to pop in a week later to view it, my idea and theirs maybe totally different and will put them back another week or two while i take it back to the drawing board.....but we would still be no better off unless the customer puts the time in to visit the shop so i can go thru the process and speed things up a little.
Facebook has been undoubtedly great and ive met some great friends but at the moment its taking up way too much of my time, as things were i was in the shop answering queries about tattoos (in paying customers time), when the people in question could have easily popped into the shop to look for themselves....or even take a click on my fabebook albums.
The alternative (in their eyes) was to catch me when i got home, which is time i need to be with my family, where in reality i get back to work designing the upcoming weeks work, or making transfers up from the same designs ive drawn or redrawn in some cases.
All i can say in my defense is i work 6 days a week, one of them being sunday, i have 4 kids and a wife who are here. I cant take time away from hem for a customer who cant 'be here', simply because if you cant get into the shop to plan or own tattoo then you cant have time to GET a tattoo!
i hope this doesnt come across in the wrong way, facebooks had it uses and ive made some great friends (and theyve seen my frustrations) but if im going to get the time i need to push the shop forward this year i need to leave faecesbook alone ;)
Youll see me on there but usually posting a link aposted from another blog, i have them all interlinked so when i post on one you all hear about it :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:The Ink Spot, 20 Deardengate, BB45TQ
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:The ink spot haslingden
Thursday, 30 December 2010
2011......were almost up to our necks in it and its gonna be a pleasure ;)
I'll start by wishing anyone reading a belter of a new year, if your the sort to depend on 'luck' then i wish you as much as you can fit in your pockets, the go-getters and realists are 'grabbers' so to get anywhere ill advise to get with the g's (go-getter & grabbers) and dump the lucky wishes cos we grabbers are getting it all and feeling guilty for ya ;)
Ha, back to the real reason for this blog post and thats to put a few people to right on a few things, ive been an artist over 25 yrs and most of its been soaking in criticism like a sponge, to do this you have to take criticism in a constructive manner, basically an artist will not criticise without thinking first as he know miswording can lead to misinterpretation. Someone who appreciates art but is not an artist themselves does not know the techniques of the work theyre commennting on so their remarks have to be taken lightly but STILL taken as serious as the artists, they just need sifting thru for the true meaning ;)
But to recieve criticism from another artist, who is in my eyes better than me but as all artist do.....was shitty!! I linked 2 users of facebook and myspace together tho as ive recieved the same worded mail over myspace as well as facebook inbox as well as in chat.
A common problem artists have is we beat ourselves up over imperfections cos we work too close to our own work and see the faults in micro vision cos were inches away from the paper or skin.
Myself, ive seen this been used to all sorts of advantages and disadvantages for artists in all trades, music, painting/drawing, tattooing, printing, computer graphic design.....
I'll ask for an opinion and value it for what it is, sit and dwell on it till ive read between the lines, watched it break down into other ways of thinking of it read it back morning, noon and night to get all sorts or ways and perceptions of how to take it, when ive taken the positive parts from it ill pick the bones from it and see how to rebuild it in my own way.
Lately ive had critism of the negative sort, ive ignored it but when i spotted the spelling mistakes between myspace and facebook and the regularity this user ('prick...is what we'll call him till i hear a change).
To pull or pick at someones work and NOT tell them the remedy or even have a comparison to show how you mean is negative cos its just putting the artists capability down, i just take that as a problem THEY have and want me to show em how its done so they can learn how another approaches it, its not the sorta person i waste my breath on so have given up rising to their comments in reply or even practise, simply thank them for any advise given without telling what id learnt, just asking if they can see any change.......if i havent used their advice i can usually tell by the reply IF THEY know WHY theyre even criticising me ;)
Please dont stop criticising tho cos whether you think its all good or all bad ill always work my way thru it and pick out the best, i can pick the bones from a fart so finding a needle in a haystack isnt as hard as it sounds ;)
The helpful sort have helped me more than i can ever put into words so neeeeed that criticism, the hating sort help me keep my feet on the ground and make my wording a bit more single tracked as possible, they help me keep any criticle comments i make followed up with something positive to help with the problem i 'see' as being apparent!
Without all angles i might start believing my work doesnt need looking at, when im the best ill sit back and disregard my critics, till then i got a lifetime of learning to catch up with the greats, they wouldnt be so great if they didnt improve with every year that passes.
To believe im anywhere close to being in the best 1% of tattooists is beyond crazy, im a bit of dew on the laf that fkats in the big pond they call the art industry, but glad you found me. Means a lot to me but think....... How do you notice me among so many......and HOW do you find time to find such faults?? Lol, enjoy either way.
On a personal note to the ritic id like to say.......
Took me 20 mins to put my opinion across, must take hrs of hating to bother with me tho, use that energy to look thru your sketches see if you can make something good out of one or two, mine are always half done cos i can see so much from an unfinished sketch than a final, makes sense to me, yours look like you lost our way and gave in, which id never do without having a 'new and improved' view beside it ;)
Some of my sketches look raw and 'sketchy' but i like em like that, look thru and you may see a newer scan which shows the changes, hehe....you dont SEE that far tho do ya, your too angry hehe, love THAT, it gives me energy....energy you should be craving ;)
Also the reason ive taken to usin blogspots to post my opinions is so i can get my words out in over '256 characters' before the convo gets diluted or changes track......;)
Gmail accounts, are the way forward!!!!
- BlogPress from blogspot @ http://no1inkspots.blogspot.com/
Ranted by MickMog using BlogPress on iPad, have a nice day :)x
Ha, back to the real reason for this blog post and thats to put a few people to right on a few things, ive been an artist over 25 yrs and most of its been soaking in criticism like a sponge, to do this you have to take criticism in a constructive manner, basically an artist will not criticise without thinking first as he know miswording can lead to misinterpretation. Someone who appreciates art but is not an artist themselves does not know the techniques of the work theyre commennting on so their remarks have to be taken lightly but STILL taken as serious as the artists, they just need sifting thru for the true meaning ;)
But to recieve criticism from another artist, who is in my eyes better than me but as all artist do.....was shitty!! I linked 2 users of facebook and myspace together tho as ive recieved the same worded mail over myspace as well as facebook inbox as well as in chat.
A common problem artists have is we beat ourselves up over imperfections cos we work too close to our own work and see the faults in micro vision cos were inches away from the paper or skin.
Myself, ive seen this been used to all sorts of advantages and disadvantages for artists in all trades, music, painting/drawing, tattooing, printing, computer graphic design.....
I'll ask for an opinion and value it for what it is, sit and dwell on it till ive read between the lines, watched it break down into other ways of thinking of it read it back morning, noon and night to get all sorts or ways and perceptions of how to take it, when ive taken the positive parts from it ill pick the bones from it and see how to rebuild it in my own way.
Lately ive had critism of the negative sort, ive ignored it but when i spotted the spelling mistakes between myspace and facebook and the regularity this user ('prick...is what we'll call him till i hear a change).
To pull or pick at someones work and NOT tell them the remedy or even have a comparison to show how you mean is negative cos its just putting the artists capability down, i just take that as a problem THEY have and want me to show em how its done so they can learn how another approaches it, its not the sorta person i waste my breath on so have given up rising to their comments in reply or even practise, simply thank them for any advise given without telling what id learnt, just asking if they can see any change.......if i havent used their advice i can usually tell by the reply IF THEY know WHY theyre even criticising me ;)
Please dont stop criticising tho cos whether you think its all good or all bad ill always work my way thru it and pick out the best, i can pick the bones from a fart so finding a needle in a haystack isnt as hard as it sounds ;)
The helpful sort have helped me more than i can ever put into words so neeeeed that criticism, the hating sort help me keep my feet on the ground and make my wording a bit more single tracked as possible, they help me keep any criticle comments i make followed up with something positive to help with the problem i 'see' as being apparent!
Without all angles i might start believing my work doesnt need looking at, when im the best ill sit back and disregard my critics, till then i got a lifetime of learning to catch up with the greats, they wouldnt be so great if they didnt improve with every year that passes.
To believe im anywhere close to being in the best 1% of tattooists is beyond crazy, im a bit of dew on the laf that fkats in the big pond they call the art industry, but glad you found me. Means a lot to me but think....... How do you notice me among so many......and HOW do you find time to find such faults?? Lol, enjoy either way.
On a personal note to the ritic id like to say.......
Took me 20 mins to put my opinion across, must take hrs of hating to bother with me tho, use that energy to look thru your sketches see if you can make something good out of one or two, mine are always half done cos i can see so much from an unfinished sketch than a final, makes sense to me, yours look like you lost our way and gave in, which id never do without having a 'new and improved' view beside it ;)
Some of my sketches look raw and 'sketchy' but i like em like that, look thru and you may see a newer scan which shows the changes, hehe....you dont SEE that far tho do ya, your too angry hehe, love THAT, it gives me energy....energy you should be craving ;)
Also the reason ive taken to usin blogspots to post my opinions is so i can get my words out in over '256 characters' before the convo gets diluted or changes track......;)
Gmail accounts, are the way forward!!!!
- BlogPress from blogspot @ http://no1inkspots.blogspot.com/
Ranted by MickMog using BlogPress on iPad, have a nice day :)x
Location:The ink spot, 20 deardengate, Rossendale, United Kingdom
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